Dazzling Dubai: Part5

This was the welcome booth. From there we started roaming around the camp. The first stop was at a stall selling the ‘7 sands paintings’ and other curios.
I really wanted to get a 7sand painting but knowing the price will always high at a tourist spot I opted not to. Another stall helps us to dress up in the traditional attire. So all of us except dad dressed up as Arabs and clicked pics. He was from Kashmir and was such a nice guy. Our next stop was at the stall were they put mehndi on us( all these are free except curios and more complex mehndi designs). By this time mom had reserved a table for us in the centre and all of us went there grabbing shavarmas from the snack counter. Shavarmas, cokes and soft drinks were free. There was also Bar but have to pay for the drinks. After snacks we went to try the Sheesha which had low nicotine strawberry flavored smoke. All of us tried it and went for buffet. We were said that the cuisine is Arabian. I didn’t know till then that Arabian cuisine had Naan , Pulav , Vermicilli kheer and all :biglaugh After food when I went to take dessert (i.e kheer) a westerner lady and her daughters were standing there eyeing the kheer suspiciously. Then I explained them this is Kheer, more an Indian sweet, made of vermicelli, milk and sugar. Still they refused to taste it and went away. (I am not sure if it’s my explanation that lead them away). By the time dessert started a lady came in dressed for Arabian belly dance. She invited all of us to the stage. I, DH and my sister went to dance with her. After one song we were back gulping down the kheer By 8PM we left the camp. It was such a lovely experience.

Next day we were heading to The Palm, Marina etc. From Al Gubaiaba Bus station we got a taxi and guess what??!! The driver of the cab was a malayali. In Dubai we cannot hire the metered cabs for a day. We can take them only for travelling from one place to other they won’t wait for you too. But when he came to know that we were heading to The Palm just for sightseeing he offered to wait for a few minutes if we will hurry up. The first stop was in front of The Atlantis ,the biggest hotel in the world. The hotel is too big of course and faces the sea. After clicking a few pics from there we got into the cab and he took us around The Palm & Marina. Marina is loaded with foreigners and that part of the place was not at all like the rest of the Dubai. He also took us closer to Burj Khalifa/ Burj Dubai and finally dropped us off at our apartment. For lunch we indulged in Arabian Biriyani which was too much for one person to finish off. (Till date from all the forms of biriyanis I had, Malabar biriyani is the favorite). After a siesta we all got set for the Dhow cruise arranged by the Kharama Hotel. We reached there at around 6PM. Since it was Christmas eve there were a lot of Santas around. By around 7.30PM our cab came and took us to Deira where the cruise starts. Though the cruise was to begin at 8PM since some guests arrived late it started late. To be frank we were the only people onboard till some 8.30PM and had our family time on the upper deck. Dhow cruise was just a buffet in boat. Though we were told belly dancing was there later was informed due to Govt banning belly dancing is no more performed in Dhows The food was great, my DH and all had their eyes popped when they came to know how many courses I indulged in After a 2hour cruise around the creek we were dropped off at the apartments by the cab.

Dolphinarium and Global Village were the itinerary for the Christmas Day. We had arranged the cab we took to The Palm to pick us at the Apartment to go the creek park Dolphinarium. The Entry ticket was some 10/5Dhms per person. The Creek Park is basically for kids. It is more or less similar to The Planatarium and Jawahar Bal Bhavan parks in Trivandrum but for the Dolphinarium. We were too excited since it is the first time we are going to see Dolphins in real The ticket for Dolphinarium is 100Dhs per head. There are only two shows a day one at 11AM and another at 5PM. By 10.40 we were at our seats which was the third row from front. They had a warning inside the room saying that “First 3 rows might get wet during the show”!!!! After about 10minutes from 11 the show started. The audience were mostly school kids and the families without kids were really less than 5orso(including ours)L First show was with four seals and their trainer. She was feeding them with fish after every act. Then came four dolphins and their trainers. The show was really interesting, only once did we get splashed. There is a bus stand just outside the gate. Luckily for us we got the bus we had to take. Our next stop was at Lulu super market for some shopping, except my DH & Dad all of us were excited to the core thinking about shopping. Before that we thought of having some lunch and despite mom’s pleas for going to Sharavana Bhavan we all decided for Golden Fork. The food was good except some Prithom Prathom my DH ordered. He ordered it fascinated by the name only to find later it is brinjal deep fried in oil After spending a considerable amount of time,energy and money in Lulu we headed to Global Village.

Global Village opens only by 4PM and the entry ticket is 10Dhs per person. It has stalls from all over the world. Each stall was named after each country and most of it had natives of that country. Though we roamed around till 9.30PM there were a lot of countries which we didn’t get a chance to visit due to lack of time. After all this is the only opportunity when you can visit countries without a visa and passport There are lot of fun rides like giant wheel and roller coaster. I,DH,SIS and dad tried both of these and roller coaster was amazing. It was small but the track was this way and that and finally head over heels position!!! After first few minutes of excitement I was screaming allowed for Mom and asking to stop it in vainL They also show different folk dances of different countries, the day we went had French dance, cowboy dance, fire dance form Africa and an Arabian dance where he removes his skirt one by one while dancing(please don’t take it for stripping he is clothed in many layers of clothe). The greatest attraction for me there was the sweet and nut stalls. You can try each sweet and nuts just for tasting it So by paying 10Dhs you can fill your stomach with sweets and nutsJ Though there is a bus station outside the global village it is sometimes difficult to get bus to certain places. After waiting there for a few minutes we hired a cab. We were tired from walking all over the place so keep in your mind to wear the most comfortable shoes you have when you visit GV:thumbsup

 

Dear Ayyan, It is the only opportunity when I can try out those things Else I would have to go to soem hookah corner out here but that will be for smokers and I will get suffocated if I inhale it. This was really good since it was strawberry flavored and I had to force myself from getting hooked to it Malabar biriyani yeah what you said is right, but I love it from Toform in S.M.Street calicut.Try it out next time you visit and you will agree with me

Dear Shanthi thanks for the comments, yeah it was a very lovely experience. But the stalss got us bored after sometime since they have everything just for selling. In an Egyptian stall a guy was pestering us to get our names written in Egyptian script and he asked 50Dhs for it, I said a big NO and he reduce the price to 35Dhs.I was not at all happy to get my name written by paying around 500/-, and you guess what he reduced the price to 10Dhs!!!

 

Hi dear, thanks for taking youe time for me Nopes since he was keeping on reducing the price I was like what if he just drwas something and gives sayign its your name!!!